PingRoundTheWorld

Why are you paying state tax?? Just get a mailing address in a state like Texas where there is no state income tax and file using that address. You have no legal obligation to pay taxes to a state you don't live in.

I could be wrong, but I don't think you can claim the foreign income exemption on income that was derived/paid from a US source - regardless of where the work was performed. If he was working in Thailand, getting paid in Thailand, he could claim the exemption.

Further reminder that as foreigners we can never really call Thailand home. Even being married to a Thai you are subject to have your visa revoked at any point for a minor incident - and this was a minor incident before the doctor blew it up. The guy was rude and entitled - sure - but he is not "a danger to the public". The doctor suffered no wounds beyond her pride. Meanwhile Thai thugs beat each other near the brink of death and police absolves them with 500 baht and a wai. Reminds me of an elderly couple I met at immigration one day - the man is Thai and the wife is Malaysian - married for 30 years, but still have to waste 4 days a year go to immigration to file 90 day reports. 💩

I stayed in the hotel next door in 2017. Back then it was pretty quiet and haven't seen any ladyboys there. I haven't been there in a very long time but I guess that's changed.. and maybe will change back again as it appears the Filipinos will be gone for a while... What dignity? we are literally talking about men in dresses selling their a** (when they're not busy robbing people). There's very few other jobs that are less dignified than that. There's that phrase "any job is a good job".. well, not in this case lol.

.....why?? Sounds about right. This isn't about a single incident - it must have been built up resentment for months/years. TBH I can't really fault the Thais for being angry about Filipinos encroaching on "their" territory. Can you imagine if any other nationality tried stealing taxi driver jobs? Any work being taken by an illegal immigrant/tourist is bad for locals, but sex work is by tourists is breaking multiple laws. They really should have immigration round up foreigner sex workers and start deporting - there's no reason for Africans, foreigner ladyboys, etc to be here. Vietnamese/Laos/Cambodia/Myanmar is still ok as they at least understand the language and culture and behave themselves for the most part - and also in many cases do have work permits (not for sex work obviously, but many have day jobs and moonlight at night) - but Filipino and African tourists really have no business being here. Having said all of that- the ones attacking them were animals (sorry to insult animals). Just blindly attacking any Filipino they could drag out regardless of whether they were involved in the previous incident. A lynch is a lynch - the police should look at the videos and arrest all who participated. This of course won't happen because they are Thai, and police would rather pretend that the situation is resolved than uphold the law....until it happens again with a different demographic. It's already a common occurence for groups of ladyboys in Pattaya to attack foreigners - there's clearly a pattern of violence, and a lack of enforcement - why would they stop being violent if they know there are no repercussions?

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/crime-crime/2017/07/12/25-test-positive-drugs-raid-secret-bangkok-bar/ I guess it happened in 2017, I thought it was later than that. I used to go there a lot but "missed" this specific raid.

Exactly. It's amazing how all the white knights here immediately assume her side of the story is true. From the satellite photo (google maps) it's clear this is not a beach and the women were knowingly walking through back yards. There are clearly two No Tresspassing signs on both sides of the stairs - they just didn't care. So she already lied about not knowing she was tresspassing - the "poor me didn't know" act is after-the-fact to gather sympathy for her "cause" (what cause is that? legally speaking she's the one who broke the law). As far as the assault goes, it was probably just a push, which is uncalled for - but hardly "assault". If he actually hit or kicked her she would've definitely included that in her version of events. Also a nice touch implying he was fat/obese - as if that bears any relevance other than trying to portray him as the villian. As for what he or his wife said - she probably is making a lot of it up. I've met a lot of female Thai doctors, lawyers, judges, and others in such professions - while sure a lot of them can be sweethearts, many are also incredibly entitled - especially when drunk. I've seen such women be incredibly pushy, sexually harass me and others, stubbornly continue to hit on me despite having clearly indicated I am not interested, etc. This type of woman assumes she is above the rest and does not take no for an answer. And that's what likely happened here - they were told to move, and instead of moving they stubbornly stayed there which escalated the situation. Just the other night ran into such a beast - she was at the table next to mine very drunk and very provocative, at some point she comes over and introduces herself while spilling half her drink on my leg. I reached out to get some paper towels and when she realized what happened she lowered her face towards my leg/groin, overtly licked her lips, and asked "can I help you?". I refused politely and dried it off, but she kept doing it over and over again and licking her lips throughout and get more and more touchy. Eventually I told her "my girlfriend works in this club" hoping she'd take the hint - no such luck - she kept going. I had to tell her 5 times I have a girlfriend and eventually physically move away and move tables to get her to stop.

At some point (maybe 2017-2018?) Swing moved to Lumphini-Wang Mai area (don't remember exact location but I remember taking taxis going in that direction). Was big and lots of people even very late. Operated for a couple of years and closed (police raid if I remember correctly). Then Covid happened, and in 2022 they tried opening another location near soi ratchadamri 2 where Superrich is, but the place was tiny and usually empty - nothing like the big clubs they ran before. We went a few times to give it a chance, and ditched it for another bar nearby that was and still is the go-to spot for afterhours. Less drugs there too. I don't know if that place on Ratchadamri still exists, but probably not.

Climax closed before Covid. Apparently the hotel (Ambassador) thought they could do better with a convention center instead of the club. I hear rumors they might be building another club there but not sure. Climax was part of the Hillary group so some of the previous clientele can be found in Hillary on soi 4 or soi 11. The new Nana club (I think that's actually the name) is owned by Indian(s) so probably geared towards them, though I'm sure it gets random tourists as well. Levels and Sugar do not stay open late. Some of the bars on soi 11 and soi 8, and all the street bars probably do stay open late. Mixx in intercontinental hotel is technically in Ratchada which is one of the zones where clubs can stay open until 4am legally. There's another bar in the area that stays open later. I miss Climax.. aside from being chock full of, uh, talent.. it was also a 30 seconds walk from my condo at the time. Levels and Sugar seemed so far...

Stopped working for me as well. Used to pay with foreign cards for 3 years before that but now it doesn't seem possible anymore.

They are there to take care of owners' needs. If multiple owners are interested in EVs then it's their duty to service that need - that's literally what they are getting paid for - by the owners. It's actually quite amazing to me how some juristic people think it's the other way around and they're the priority - no, you're the help, so help!

How exactly is it better? I have a very good friend who's partner is a tomboy. They haven't had sex in 3 years - just cuddle and such. Sex is definitely not the motivation.

I can't think of anything I enjoy that could not exist without tourists. There's a large enough population of expats here to support any business I frequent. If some tourist-trap bars and tourist-price massage joints close shop - no sweat off my back. Not saying all tourists are bad - but millions of them raising prices and other negative consequences are bad IMO. Bad for us - expats - not necessarily bad for Thais who earn more when there's lots of tourists.

I'm more than willing to change my opinion, lol. Thanks for reaffirming you guys (decent kiwis) exist! 🙂 Hope so! Come to think of it, it might be a good idea across all nationalities... not that it really matters as they can still get in visa exempt anyway.

You say that as if less tourists is a bad thing... the sad reality is that for us - expats - the more tourists, the worse it gets. Higher prices, more competition for everything, more crowded, etc. I love the low season for a reason...

Not to be racist, but my "sample" of New Zealanders I've met hasn't been exactly great. Some weirdo with Tourette who kept swearing at us, some angry white boy and his Maori friend who tried to fight me for no reason (we talked to the same girl or something), others who have hurled racist remarks at me once they've learned my nationality, and there's always the NZ rugby team who used to terrorize Roppongi bars every time they were in town. I have yet to meet a decent New Zealander. I'm sure they exist, but the ones I've met were rude and/or violent. So....anything that reduces their numbers here is welcome. Next please do Russian and Chinese. Indians can stay- they might be annoying but they're not violent and they don't push prices upwards, coexist lol.

That was your first mistake - downloading it. I mean, by now it's common knowledge TikTok is full of useless crap by useless people (no offense to the 0.001% who actually post quality content). It's basically there for people to post anything that can make them money, and other people to brain-numbly ingest it. Complaining about it is kinda like going to Patong and complaining that there are too many foreigners there. It is what it is.

Can you point anything in what I said that's not actually true? The truth is never ignorant.

Yeah, it could very well be a foreigner pretending to be Thai. It is indeed written too well. Would not be surprised as the level of self-hate and "I'm better than you" attitude with so many expats is off the roof.

It's alarming to see blatant racism out in the open. There's no other word to describe this opinion piece: it's clear that the author hates and looks down on foreigners. Probably some educated posh **** that will have no sweat off his back if the country loses all it's tourists - while millions of his "brothers and sisters" suffer in poverty. Next.

Absolute nonsense. It's actually easy to immigrate to Japan if you are skilled and/or speak Japanese. I've lived and studied there and have hundreds of people I know who are recent immigrants. Japan is desperate for immigrants to fill the aging population gaps. The problem is that in order for immigrants to work in fields like construction, hospice, or most other fields where there are shortages - they need to speak Japanese. There are many Filipino who study Japanese enough to work there, some Chinese, and Koreans - but we're talking hundreds of thousands - they need millions.

He is not wrong though. This WILL impact small manufacturers a lot more than it will the big guys.

Amazing how even elected officials are as dumb as a brick. The graphic warning labels have done absolutely nothing in deterring smokers - why do they think it'll deter drinkers? it will just be unpleasant, might even cover it, but **** no it won't stop me from drinking. They should spend less time telling people what to do and worry more about what they can do for the people. (hint: stop limiting alcohol sale hours, stop limiting nightlife hours, stop the ridiculous Buddha day alcohol bans, and in general **** off from interfering with how people want to spend their days or nights)

Um, sure they deserve it. Your chances of being robbed by a ladyboy are exponentially higher than a lady. Your chances of getting in a fight with a ladyboy over minor things is also higher. Plenty of other trouble you can expect from a ladyboy that a lady wouldn't give you. Not that all of them are trouble - sure there are some who are honest - but generally ladyboy prostitutes tend to be trouble.

Amazing how many people are commenting without bothering to actually look into the details. It wasn't "1 guy and 3 ladyboys" - that's just crappy reporting. It was 2 guys who brought back 3 ladyboys to a villa that already had 2 other guys, 2 other girls, and 2 other ladyboys. Total NINE people - not four. Blondie is on camera trying to stab him. Her "sister" is on camera running over one of them. Pretty sure that's a solid legal defense. Not to mention they have 4 other Thais (witnesses) there who weren't part of the brawl. There's no doubt the ladyboys instigated the violence as a result of being short-changed (in their mind). Even in their own version of the events they told police it started from that.